Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Handbook of DSM-5 Disorders in Children and Adolescents pp 3–15Cite as

Diagnosis in American Psychiatry: A Brief History of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Abstract

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association, a nosology in its ontological status, continues to exert authority in the diagnosis and even conceptualization of mental disorders. This chapter recounts the evolution of American psychiatric nosology within a broader picture of scientific ideologies, sociopolitical environments, and cultural contexts. Specifically, we highlight the rationale, briefly describe the developmental process, and analyze the impact of each revision of the DSM on psychiatric research and practice. We touch upon controversies that led to, and arose from, successive editions of the DSM, and posit that many prevailing issues are rooted in the vagaries of conceptualization of what constitutes a mental disorder, and consider the possibility that revising or replacing the DSM classification system with the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) may prove to be of demonstrable benefit for both psychiatric research and practice.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   349.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   449.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   449.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Achenbach, T. M., & Edelbrock, C. S. (1978). The classification of child psychopathology: A review and analysis of empirical efforts. Psychological Bulletin, 85(6), 1275.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Almeder, R. (1998). Harmless naturalism: The limits of science and nature of philosophy. Peru, IL: Open Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (1952). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (1st ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (1968). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (1980). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (1987). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed., revised.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2014). DSM-5 Development. Retrieved August 17, 2016, from http://www.dsm5.org/about/pages/faq.aspx

  • Baer, L., Platman, S. R., & Fieve, R. R. (1970). The role of electrolytes in affective disorders: Sodium, potassium, and lithium ions. Archives of General Psychiatry, 22(2), 108–113.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ban, T. A. (2001). Pharmacotherapy of mental illness-a historical analysis. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 25(4), 709–727.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beitchman, J. H., Dielman, T. E., Landis, J. R., Benson, R. M., & Kemp, P. L. (1978). Reliability of the Group for Advancement of psychiatry diagnostic categories in child psychiatry. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35(12), 1461–1466.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Berrettini, W. H. (2000). Susceptibility loci for bipolar disorder: Overlap with inherited vulnerability to schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry, 47(3), 245–251.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Braslow, J. T. (2000). Therapeutics and the history of psychiatry. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 74(4), 794–802.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Casey, B., Oliveri, M. E., & Insel, T. (2014). A neurodevelopmental perspective on the research domain criteria (RDoC) framework. Biological Psychiatry, 76(5), 350–353.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, D. J., Paul, R., & Volkmar, F. R. (1986). Issues in the classification of pervasive and other developmental disorders: Toward DSM-IV. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 25(2), 213–220.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cuthbert, B. N. (2014). The RDoC framework: Facilitating transition from ICD/DSM to dimensional approaches that integrate neuroscience and psychopathology. World Psychiatry, 13(1), 28–35.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Cuthbert, B. N. (2015). Research domain criteria: Toward future psychiatric nosologies. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 17(1), 89–97.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Cuthbert, B. N., & Insel, T. R. (2013). Toward the future of psychiatric diagnosis: The seven pillars of RDoC. BMC Medicine, 11(1), 1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • del Carmen Panini, A., Garraza, M. H., Teves, M. R., Giraudo, E., & Calderón, C. P. (2015). Use of psychotropic drugs: Between the medicalization and rationality psychiatry and neuroscience update (pp. 207–215). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Demazeux, S., & Singy, P. (2015). The DSM-5 in perspective: Philosophical reflections on the psychiatric Babel (vol. 10). Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doherty, J. L., & Owen, M. J. (2014). Genomic insights into the overlap between psychiatric disorders: Implications for research and clinical practice. Genome Medicine, 6(4), 1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Esquirol, E. (1845). Mental maladies; A treatise on insanity. Philadelphia, PA: Lea and Blanchard.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feighner, J. P., Robins, E., Guze, S. B., Woodruff, R. A., Winokur, G., & Munoz, R. (1972). Diagnostic criteria for use in psychiatric research. Archives of General Psychiatry, 26(1), 57–63.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • First, M. B., & Pincus, H. A. (2002). The DSM-IV text revision: Rationale and potential impact on clinical practice. Psychiatric Services, 53(3), 288–292.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Frances, A. (2010). Psychiatric diagnosis gone wild: The “epidemic” of childhood bipolar disorder. Psychiatric Times, 8, 1–3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, M. (1971). A reliability study of psychiatric diagnosis in childhood and adolescence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 12(1), 43–54.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gabbard, G. O., & Gabbard, K. (1999). Psychiatry and the cinema. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Pub.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giordano, J. (2014). The human prospect (s) of neuroscience and neurotechnology: Domains of influence and the necessity–and questions–of neuroethics. Human Prospect, 4(1), 1–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giordano, J., & Shook, J. R. (2015). Minding brain science in medicine: On the need for neuroethical engagement for guidance of neuroscience in clinical contexts. Ethics in Biology, Engineering and Medicine: An International Journal, 6(1-2), 37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, E. (1961). Asylum. New York, NY: Doubleday.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould, L. L. (2001). America in the progressive era, 1890-1914 (vol. 5). Harlow, UK: Pearson Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grob, G. N. (1962). Samuel B. Woodward and the practice of psychiatry in early nineteenth-century America. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 36, 420.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grob, G. N. (1987). The forging of mental health policy in America: World War II to new frontier. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 42(4), 410–446.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grob, G. N. (1991). Origins of DSM-I: A study in appearance and reality. American Journal of Psychiatry, 148(4), 421–431.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grob, G. N. (2011). The attack of psychiatric legitimacy in the 1960s: Rhetoric and reality. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 47(4), 398–416.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, Committee on Governmental Agencies. (1951). Introduction to the psychiatric aspects of civil defense. New York, NY: Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry.

    Google Scholar 

  • Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, Committee on Industry in Psychiatry. (1951). The application of psychiatry to industry. New York, NY: Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry.

    Google Scholar 

  • Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, Committee on International Relations. (1950). The position of psychiatrists in the field of international relations. New York, NY: Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry.

    Google Scholar 

  • Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry. Committee on Social Issues. (1957). Psychiatric aspects of school desegregation (no. 37). New York, NY: Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, Committee on Social Issues. (1950). The social responsibility of psychiatry, a statement of orientation. New York, NY: Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hale Jr., N. G. (1995). The rise and crisis of psychoanalysis in the United States: Freud and the Americans, 1917–1985. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammad, T. A., Laughren, T., & Racoosin, J. (2006). Suicidality in pediatric patients treated with antidepressant drugs. Archives of General Psychiatry, 63(3), 332–339.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hippius, H., & Müller, D.-P. N. (2008). The work of Emil Kraepelin and his research group in München. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 258(2), 3–11.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Insel, T. R. (2009). Translating scientific opportunity into public health impact: A strategic plan for research on mental illness. Archives of General Psychiatry, 66(2), 128–133.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kapur, S., Phillips, A. G., & Insel, T. R. (2012). Why has it taken so long for biological psychiatry to develop clinical tests and what to do about it&quest. Molecular Psychiatry, 17(12), 1174–1179.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kendell, R., & Jablensky, A. (2003). Distinguishing between the validity and utility of psychiatric diagnoses. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 4.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kendler, K. S., Neale, M. C., Kessler, R. C., Heath, A. C., & Eaves, L. J. (1992). Major depression and generalized anxiety disorder: Same genes,(partly) different environments? Archives of General Psychiatry, 49(9), 716–722.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Klerman, G. L. (1984). A debate on DSM-III. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1(4), 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klerman, G. L. (1968). Anti-depressant drugs-proceedings of the first international symposium. Psychosomatic Medicine, 30(4), 458–459.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kozak, M. J., & Cuthbert, B. N. (2016). The NIMH research domain criteria initiative: Background, issues, and pragmatics. Psychophysiology, 53(3), 286–297.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Krueger, R. F. (1999). The structure of common mental disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 56(10), 921–926.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Krueger, R. F., & Markon, K. E. (2006). Reinterpreting comorbidity: A model-based approach to understanding and classifying psychopathology. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 2, 111.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Kupfer, D. J., First, M. B., & Regier, D. A. (2008). A research agenda for DSM V. Arlington, TX: American Psychiatric Pub.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lahey, B. B., Pelham, W. E., Stein, M. A., Loney, J., Trapani, C., Nugent, K., … Cale, M. (1998). Validity of DSM-IV attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder for younger children. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 37(7), 695–702.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lorr, M., Sonn, T. M., & Katz, M. M. (1967). Toward a definition of depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 17(2), 183–186.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mayes, R., & Horwitz, A. V. (2005). DSM-III and the revolution in the classification of mental illness. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 41(3), 249–267.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McHugh, P. R. (2016). Adolf Meyer: His achievements and legacy. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 12(6).

    Google Scholar 

  • Menninger, K. A. (1964). The vital balance: The life process in mental health and illness. New York, NY: Viking Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Micale, M. S. (1996). Paradigm and ideology in psychiatric history writing: The case of psychoanalysis. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 184(3), 146–152.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Millon, T., & Klerman, G. (1986). Contemporary directions in psychopathology: Toward the DSM-IV. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, A. E., Hynd, G. W., Riccio, C. A., & Hall, J. (1996). Validity of DSM-IV ADHD predominantly inattentive and combined types: Relationship to previous DSM diagnoses/subtype differences. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35(3), 325–333.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moynihan, R., & Cassels, A. (2006). Selling sickness: How the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies are turning us all into patients. New York, NY: Nation Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nagel, S. K. (2014). Enhancement for well-being is still ethically challenging. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, 8, 72.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Nemeroff, C. B., Weinberger, D., Rutter, M., MacMillan, H. L., Bryant, R. A., Wessely, S., … Berk, M. (2013). DSM-5: A collection of psychiatrist views on the changes, controversies, and future directions.BMC Medicine, 11(1), 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parry, P., Allison, S., Jureidini, J., McEvoy, P., Ward, S., Callary, J., … Amos, J. (2008). Pediatric bipolar disorder is a controversial diagnosis. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 42(1), 91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Patil, T., & Giordano, J. (2010). Ontological assumptions of the medical model of psychiatry. Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine, 5(3).

    Google Scholar 

  • Pasnau, R. O. (1987). The remedicalization of psychiatry. Psychiatric Services, 38(2), 145–151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pinel, P. (1806). A treatise on insanity.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Raines, G. (1953). Comment: The new nomenclature. American Journal of Psychiatry, 109(7), 548–549.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenberg, C. E. (2002). The tyranny of diagnosis: Specific entities and individual experience. Milbank Quarterly, 80(2), 237–260.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Sachar, E. J. (1970). Psychological factors relating to activation and inhibition of the adrenocortical stress response in man: A review. Progress in Brain Research, 32, 316–324.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sadler, J. Z., Hulgus, Y. F., & Agich, G. J. (1994). On values in recent American psychiatric classification. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 19(3), 261–277.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sandifer Jr., M. G., Pettus, C., & Quade, D. (1964). A study of psychiatric diagnosis. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 139(4), 350–356.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Scheff, T. J. (1970). Being mentally ill: A sociological theory. Chicago, IL: Transaction Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaffer, D., Fisher, P., Dulcan, M., Davies, M., Piacentini, J., Schwab-Stone, M. E., … Regier, D. A. (1996). The NIMH diagnostic interview schedule for children (DISC-2): Description, acceptability, prevalences, and performance in the MECA study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 865–877.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shook, J. R., & Giordano, J. (2016). Neuroethics beyond normal. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 25(01), 121–140.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Singh, I., & Rose, N. (2009). Biomarkers in psychiatry. Nature, 460(7252), 202–207.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J., & Robins, E. (1978). Research diagnostic criteria: Rationale and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35(6), 773–782.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Spitzer, R. L., & Wilson, P. T. (1975). Nosology and the official psychiatric nomenclature. Comprehensive textbook of psychiatry, 2, 826–845.

    Google Scholar 

  • Statistical Manual for the Use of Institutions for the Insane. (New York: The National Committee for Mental Hygiene, Bureau of Statistics, 1918.). (1918). American Journal of Psychiatry, 75(2), 301-301. doi:10.1176/ajp.75.2.301

  • Szasz, T. (1961). Myth of mental illness (vol. 15). New York, NY: Hoeber-Harper.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tarter, R. E., Templer, D. I., & Hardy, C. (1975). Reliability of the psychiatric diagnosis. Diseases of the Nervous System, 36, 30.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Timimi, S. (2014). Pathological child psychiatry and the medicalization of childhood. London\Oxford: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wieder, S. (1994). Diagnostic classification of mental health and developmental disorders of infancy and early childhood. Diagnostic classification: 0-3.: ERIC. Washington, DC: ZERO TO THREE: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, M. (1993). DSM-III and the transformation of American psychiatry: A history. American Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 399–399.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Worcester, S. L. H. a. (1838). Annual report of the trustees of the state lunatic hospital at worcester (pp. 41). Worcester: Worcester Hospital Proceedings.

    Google Scholar 

  • Worcester, S. L. H. a. (1839). Annual report of the trustees of the state lunatic hospital at worcester. (pp. 30). Worcester: Worcester Hospital Proceedings.

    Google Scholar 

  • Worcester, S. L. H. a. (1840). Annual report of the trustees of the state lunatic hospital at worcester. Worcester: Worcester Hospital Proceedings.

    Google Scholar 

  • Worcester, S. L. H. a. (1841). Annual report of the trustees of the state lunatic hospital at worcester (pp. 41). Worcester: Worcester Hospital Proceedings.

    Google Scholar 

  • Worcester, S. L. H. a. (1842). Annual report of the trustees of the state lunatic hospital at worcester (pp. 40). Worcester: Worcester Hospital Proceedings.

    Google Scholar 

  • Worcester, S. L. H. a. (1843). Annual report of the trustees of the state lunatic hospital at worcester (pp. 39). Worcester: Worcester Hospital Proceedings.

    Google Scholar 

  • Worcester, S. L. H. a. (1844). Annual report of the trustees of the state lunatic hospital at worcester (pp. 42). Worcester: Worcester Hospital Proceedings.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, A. (1997). The harmony of illusions: Inventing post-traumatic stress disorder. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerman, M., Ruggero, C. J., Chelminski, I., & Young, D. (2008). Is bipolar disorder overdiagnosed? The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 69(6), 935–940.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This chapter was based upon and adapted from our previous work, Kawa S, Giordano J. A brief historicity of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM): Issues and implications for the future of psychiatric canon and practice. Phil Ethics Humanities Med 6(17); (2012), with permission. The authors acknowledge support of the Children’s Hospital and Clinics Foundation (JG), and the William H. and Ruth Crane Schaefer Endowment (JG).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no financial interest or any conflict of interest in this work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neuroethics Studies Program, Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA

    Faisal Akram, Shadia Kawa & James Giordano

Authors
  1. Faisal Akram
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Shadia Kawa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. James Giordano
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to James Giordano .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Neurology, Learning and Behavior Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

    Sam Goldstein

  2. Intermountain Healthcare, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

    Melissa DeVries

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Akram, F., Kawa, S., Giordano, J. (2017). Diagnosis in American Psychiatry: A Brief History of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. In: Goldstein, S., DeVries, M. (eds) Handbook of DSM-5 Disorders in Children and Adolescents. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57196-6_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation